“The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses.”
Karl Marx[Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law, 1844]

Monday, 3 January 2011

Correspondence on The historywomans article Property and Power: On James Harrington’s 400th Birthday

Christopher Thompson

I am afraid that these assertions about the transfer of
land between the nobility and gentry. The peerage in 1601 may have held less
land than in 1558 but it still held more than in 1534. By 1641, the much
enlarged peerage had far more land in its hands than in 1601. This is true even
using Lawrence Stone's highly improbable figures. The English Civil War or
Revolution was preceded by a notable shift in landed possessions towards the
peerage and by the rise of "aristocratic constitutionalism".

thehistorywoman
(http://thehistorywoman.wordpress.com/)%20On%20t

That's an interesting point. The 'rise of the gentry'
hypothesis has long been contested. However, I find it significant that
Harrington still perceived a shift of property and power towards the gentry and
yeomanry. Of course one might wonder how far this perception was influenced by
a political agenda.